Best of the Week on The Dan Patrick Show

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Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Here's the story. I'm not sure why it's a story, but it's a big story, or at least it's it's being talked about on social media. So the reporter for Jacksonville Jaguars is named Lynn Jones. She works for the Jacksonville Free Press, and following the loss by the Jags to the Buffalo Bills, Jones, the reporter offered support and some positive words to head coach Liam.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: Cohen tent tail. You congratulations on your success, young man. You hold your head up, all right. You guys have had a most magnificent season. He did a great job out there today. So you just hold your head up. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, douvall you don't want all right, keep it going. We got another season, okay, appreciate take care, much continued success to you and the entire team.

00:00:55
Speaker 4: Thank you.

00:00:56
Speaker 5: Man.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: She's been in broadcasting broadcast journalism prover three decades. She is the associate editor and sales team manager for the Jacksonville Free Press. I think she's also done some hosting and TV as well. I don't know her. I don't think that i've met her. But here is the point that is being made by a lot of either host, former players, analyst. A lot of debate with this. Should you be saying this in a press conference. You're a member of the media, and yes, Jacksonville just lost. You're a hometown reporter, but you're still a journalist. Your job is to ask questions, to get answers from Liam Cohen and then you put it in your article.

00:01:42
Speaker 4: That's what your job is.

00:01:44
Speaker 2: You're not a former player who plays for Jacksonville played for It's not like Tony Vasselli. If he went there and said that in a press conference, no one would have a problem with that. But if you're a reporter and you're saying this, you can say it in a way that you do. You almost want Liam Cohen to tell you what he accomplished this year if you just put it in question form coach tough loss. Can you put it into words? You know what you've done this year? So now you've let him kind of tell you what you are already telling him in that clip that I just played for you. And this is this is different than if Tony Dungee says something about Mike Tomlin or to Mike Tomlin or Rodney Harrison says something about the New England Patriot. They're former players. This is a press conference and you're a journalist. Now, look, I don't root. I don't root. I didn't like it when Stewart Scott rooted openly rooted, or Chris Berman openly rooted.

00:02:49
Speaker 4: I didn't like it.

00:02:51
Speaker 2: But hey, they had their own agenda. I'm sure there are things that they didn't like of my approach here, but it shouldn't be a big deal. I think this reporter was very compassionate and it was a tough loss, and she said it and she's been there in the community for over thirty years. Okay, it's not what we should be doing, but it's not the end of the world. And now you've got people who are you know, saying, oh you old journalist, and you guys you know your days are numbered and polar cred you know, you know there we need journalism, We need people asking questions. I've admitted I got too close to players before paid the price. You know you can't do it because you you know, I got too close to Jason Johnby and Mark maguire. And then when I had to report on them. Then all of a sudden, I lost friendships. But that's on me. That's on me. So I've done this firsthand. But I'm not openly rooting for you. I mean, Kurt Warner went to the Super Bowl with their Arizona and I did an interview with him that season. I said, if you take them to the super Bowl, you're going to go to the Hall of Fame. And that's exactly what happened. But you know what I did after that Super Bowl. I went to Kurt Warner privately and told him that was an incredible job, and you are going to the Hall of Fame. Not at the press conference. You could still pull him aside if you want to talk to the coach. Hey, coach, I just want you to know what you've meant to this community. But this isn't hey, you know, the old school journalist. No, we still need people who ask questions. Not everybody has to be a cheerleader, and former players are not journalists. Don't expect them to be. You know, people would pile on Pat mcavie. You got to ask, you know, Aaron Rodgers tough questions. Pat's an entertainer. I'm not expecting him to ask the questions that I would ask. It gets a paid interview, you have him, come on, you talk, let him talk. Okay, there's a reason why he wanted to keep going back on those shows that show he got freedom to say what he wanted to say.

00:05:14
Speaker 4: But that's Pat's show. I don't have any problem with that.

00:05:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's kind of ironic too, because Lynn Jones probably did and got one of the realest things to happen in a postgame press conference in years, where like actual human emotion and interaction rather than the same robotic answers that every journalist in the room is going to.

00:05:38
Speaker 4: Coach, How does this what does it feel like? Coach? Coach? Looking forward to next year? Coach? What's the what's the planned coach? Coach?

00:05:44
Speaker 6: What are you going to do in the other all the same crap that people ask every single press conference.

00:05:49
Speaker 4: It's a totally different thing.

00:05:51
Speaker 2: And the approach in these press conferences to so called journalism has changed dramatically. I don't know if it's for the good. I mean, that's for you, the consumer. My approach will be my approach for the next at least the next two years. But that's what I teach at my broadcasting school, whatever you do after that, I want to give you the foundation of what you should do when you go to a press conference. You're not there to be cheering in the press box. You're not there to be cheering in a press conference. But it became like this back and forth on social media. And that's what was surprising is I think it came from a good place with her that yes she was proud, and yes it was a local reporter, but that's where you know, I pull you aside and say, I hope you understand exactly what you did for this community and be proud and hold your head up. But you know, to make it like this is Nixon Frost debate. Yeah, POLLI yeah.

00:06:56
Speaker 7: When I heard it yesterday and I saw how I was posted, I'll get to that. Like I both thought that, wow, it was really sweet what she said, and also that journalists are not supposed to do that in press conferences, and everyone knows that it's not even the debate that you're not supposed to handle questions or statements that way.

00:07:11
Speaker 4: But what she said was really sweet.

00:07:13
Speaker 7: I didn't think Adam Schefter did her any favors when he posted this is an awesome postgame exchange between a reporter and head coach Liam Cohen. He gave no context to the person asking how old they were, how long they've been there? And people came after this reporter and it took me a while to look up how long she'd been there. I took a minute. But schefter did her no favors and posting it that way.

00:07:34
Speaker 8: Yeah, and.

00:07:37
Speaker 4: This isn't ay.

00:07:38
Speaker 2: I got my show and I get to treat my guests this way. This is a reporter. It's different. We have to play by different rules. We're not cheerleaders. It's not like Teddy Bruski's on the Mothership and he's saying nice things about the Patriots.

00:07:54
Speaker 4: He's a former Patriot.

00:07:58
Speaker 2: You have to approach this as fair as you possibly can, because I always thought, when you're watching Sports Center, I want to make sure you know that I don't have a bias. I don't have a bias against your team or you know, for your team.

00:08:13
Speaker 4: I don't.

00:08:14
Speaker 2: I don't want you to ever think that because when somebody says, oh, who you want to win?

00:08:18
Speaker 8: I go.

00:08:18
Speaker 4: It doesn't matter. It doesn't you know.

00:08:23
Speaker 2: Case in point, when we're at Notre Dame, you can't help it, like Marcus Freeman. But if USC won that game, it's content. If Miami wins the national title, I don't care. I mean, Indiana's a great story, but if Miami wins, it's it's still a great story. That's that's what I'm in the storytelling business. But you're not in the business of rooting. And I'm guilty of this. It's hard not to do it, and people want access. How do you get access by being nice to people? By saying nice things about people? I mean, there are people won't come on this show, but you know there are reasons. And it's not that I didn't do my job. It's that I do my job at least what I think is my job, and this is my show. My approach is different than throw out other hosts how Jim Rome or Colin does him his or you know the ESPN Morning Show. I mean, everybody that's your territory, do what you want.

00:09:33
Speaker 5: Yes, ton, I appreciate what she had to say, and I understand the form isn't the best place. What if you were a journalist covering the team and you had a tough question that you were ready to ask right after she said that, you would look like such a jerk. How'd you guys blow that you could have beat the Bills? What happened after she just gave the flowers to him? You almost can't ask the question there.

00:09:50
Speaker 2: That's tough, no, But I don't know what tough question you'd be asking that, you know. I mean, this is a team that probably felt a year ahead schedule. There they it's a great story, great story, and nobody's going to take Jacksonville lightly next year. But I mean you want to ask tough questions the Packers after they lost, that would be the place where you're asking some tough questions. Here is Matt Lafleur, Green Bay head coach.

00:10:20
Speaker 9: Well, obviously this one is going to hurt for a really, really long time. You know, when you are in complete control of a football game and the flip, the script gets flipped in the second half and it was a lot of self inflicted things, and you know, give credit to them.

00:10:37
Speaker 8: We knew they were a team that could come back and fight.

00:10:41
Speaker 9: I mean, they've proved it all season long, and we had opportunities to kind of put them away, and we didn't get it done.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: He got asked quite a few times about coming back next year he's going to be in the final year of his contract. But you know, these are tough questions. But this is big boy business. They get paid to answer these questions. You got to ask the questions, and you know how you ask it. I mean, you may dress it up a little bit so it doesn't sound as penetrating, but you still have to ask these questions. And yes, it is uncomfortable. And I've you know, I got yelled at by Don Shula one time, the great Don Shula, because I asked a question and he didn't like the way I asked it, almost as if to say, who were you to ask me that question? And he's probably right. I mean, I was young in the business. But you know, you got to ask questions because you've got to serve your audience, your readers.

00:11:46
Speaker 4: Remember when they used to read newspapers.

00:11:48
Speaker 2: God, the Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Post Gazette is folding man's that's unbelievable in that town, as valuable as that newspaper was. Yes, Marvin, yeah, I remember growing up the sports reporters. They were big.

00:12:04
Speaker 5: I know, I remember being starstrug when I met Bob Ryan and my cousin was like you're such a geek.

00:12:08
Speaker 4: It's pathetic. I was like, oh my god. Bob Ryan from the Boston Globe, he.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: Was like, yeah, he's a writer Chad in Salt Lake key Tips for a living.

00:12:18
Speaker 4: Hey Chad, Hey, how you doing, guys? Good?

00:12:22
Speaker 10: So when you read her job description, she and maybe started out as a reporter, but is now in the sales side. She's there. You know, she's there as a fan that just happened to have a press credential. I'm assuming maybe I shouldn't assue that, but it feels that way. I've been in that boat. I worked in sports radio on the sales side. I would love to do what you guys do, but I saw who drives some nicer cars, so I moved to the sales side years ago. You know, it's it just just like she was there as a fan.

00:12:54
Speaker 4: Accurate, accurate, one hundred percent accurate. Thank you, Chad.

00:13:01
Speaker 8: Yeah.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: Are there moments where you know a reporter is hugging somebody after a game or whatever.

00:13:07
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, there's yes, all of these.

00:13:10
Speaker 2: I just think you have to have there have to be lines here, like there has to be, you know, guardrails where you're able to ask these questions.

00:13:21
Speaker 4: But I'm not gonna you know, I don't have any problem.

00:13:24
Speaker 2: If she's that emotional and invested and you know she'd let those emotions out, it's okay.

00:13:32
Speaker 4: But now this is a referendum on old school news.

00:13:37
Speaker 11: School.

00:13:37
Speaker 2: This is no you know, nobody cares about you, old journalist. And maybe that's true. But I came in this way, I'm going out this way.

00:13:47
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports Radio is taking over and you can be a part of it. J Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio, hit that subscribe button and smash that notification bell and catch all the videos from your favorite shows.

00:14:10
Speaker 8: Two Pros and.

00:14:11
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00:14:21
Speaker 8: Fox Sports Radio on.

00:14:23
Speaker 2: YouTube, Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. Jerry Dulac covers the Steelers for The Pittsburgh Post Gazette and he joins us, Now, how did we get here?

00:14:34
Speaker 4: Jerry?

00:14:35
Speaker 11: You know, Dan, it's it's been evolving, of course, And I think the final straw was just another one and done in the postseason. That's nine times in Mike tommins career. That ties Marty Schottenheimer, who's long remembered for all the.

00:14:51
Speaker 8: One and done's, you know, with that dubious record.

00:14:55
Speaker 11: And you know, five times in the playoffs the last six years. I mean, obviously, you know, people here around here think the sky is falling because they haven't won a playoff game, and to them, I understand why, but it's just it's kind of the same, the same scene every year, get into postseason and then not only get eliminated, but you know, they're really I know, the Texans scored two touchdowns in the last four minutes, but the games are never really competitive. And you know, I you know, Dan, people always say you don't make change for the sake of change, and the Steelers didn't make this change. Mike Tomlan decided to step down, but it was time to make a change just for the sake of change. You couldn't continue if your ownership. I don't know how you could have just sat there and watched the same old thing happen again. And you know, Mike Tomlin made a decision for them.

00:15:49
Speaker 4: Do you think it was completely his decision.

00:15:52
Speaker 11: Here, I'm still trying to get to the bottom of that, Dan, because I don't always think that's the case.

00:15:59
Speaker 8: But I will say this.

00:16:01
Speaker 11: I have been told from the top that the Steelers retain his rights, and that would mean that he stepped down, that they didn't fire him. You know, that would be a different, different scenario. So I'm going to go on that with the with the idea that he did step down, and from everybody I heard, including some of the players, that seems to be the case.

00:16:22
Speaker 8: I don't think.

00:16:23
Speaker 11: I don't think they told him, look, we'll let you what you know, we want you out, but we'll let you step down. I don't think that's the case. But I'm still still open to the buzz of Delly.

00:16:34
Speaker 4: So what's next for Tomlin?

00:16:37
Speaker 8: I don't know.

00:16:38
Speaker 11: You know, Dan, everybody wants to think that, you know, he's going to be He's perfect for TV and that's where he's going to go. Look, you know, he and I don't sit down and have those discussions.

00:16:47
Speaker 1: But.

00:16:49
Speaker 11: I've never gotten the indication that that's something on his radar, and I don't know if he wants to continue coaching. That's what I'm gonna, you know, obviously find out here in the next cup days. I don't know what his plans are because I haven't had a chance to talk to him, but I you know, Mike, Mike Thommins a football junkie, and I would almost I would expect him to, you know, want to go coach again. But I guess we're going to find out. Nineteen years in one place, let's face it, a long time, and I never got any sense that he was burned out.

00:17:25
Speaker 8: I never thought that at all. And I just I think he looked.

00:17:29
Speaker 11: At kind of the landscape and the environment of what was going on here. And you know, I'm not going to sit here and say he stepped down for the better good of the franchise or maybe the better good of his reputation.

00:17:40
Speaker 8: I don't know, but I.

00:17:42
Speaker 11: Think he could feel and sense and see what was going on, you know, from the fan base to everything else, and just probably thought, you know, what's time to step step away.

00:17:52
Speaker 4: What's next for the Steelers.

00:17:55
Speaker 11: Well, you know, obviously their history of hiring head coaches has been pretty good and.

00:18:00
Speaker 8: Haven't had to do it in a while, nineteen years.

00:18:03
Speaker 11: When you look at the last three hires, all young, defensive minded coaches, I would expect the same to happen. Despite what the way we see the NFL being played these days, I would imagine they'll follow the same template.

00:18:17
Speaker 8: I think they'll move quickly.

00:18:19
Speaker 11: I'm not going to do it by the end of the week, but I would imagine that's the direction they are going to go. And I will tell you, you know, when Bill Kawer stepped down after the sixth season, the Steelers retained a number of his assistants from the staff, including Bruce arians, Dick.

00:18:37
Speaker 8: LeBeau, Keith Butler.

00:18:38
Speaker 11: I don't know if that's going to be the case, but that's one thing the Rooneys.

00:18:41
Speaker 8: Do, you know. They don't. They don't let a coach come.

00:18:43
Speaker 11: In and start picking his entire staff and his training staff and the medical staff and the secretary's and a pr staff.

00:18:50
Speaker 12: The Steelers say.

00:18:51
Speaker 11: Hey, this is what you got, and you work around that, and so we'll see how it plays out.

00:18:56
Speaker 8: I would expect a lot of that, you know.

00:18:58
Speaker 4: To still be the same Aaron Rodgers future.

00:19:03
Speaker 8: I think.

00:19:04
Speaker 11: I think if Mike Tomlin stayed, I think they would have welcomed him back to a degree. But I will say this Dan, whether he was coming back or not, it wasn't going to change what they want to do intend to do in the draft, and I'm not saying they will do it, because we'll see how it plays out. But their intention is to find a quarterback that they can build on for the next ten, twelve, fifteen years hopefully, and so whether Aaron Rodgers comes back or not, that plan doesn't change.

00:19:33
Speaker 4: I know that it falls on Mike Tomlin.

00:19:35
Speaker 2: But did front office help build a team that could challenge for a Super Bowl?

00:19:43
Speaker 8: I don't think there's any question that.

00:19:46
Speaker 11: You know, their general manager, Omar Kahn was very aggressive the last two years, even the last three, but especially the last two in trying to get the pieces to, you know, to make a potential run. But you know, the first step was winning a playoff game, and that didn't happen, and so they also brought in a number of thirty plus veterans and that that didn't work. Then I don't know that you stick with the same personnel and you start to make some changes again and at some point. You know, the Steelers they never use the word rebuild, and I'm not saying they're going to do that, but you know they've done it kind of piecemeal, and I got a sense this one.

00:20:26
Speaker 8: Might be a little bit of a bigger overhaul.

00:20:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they're not bad enough to get better by having that high draft pick, like you're kind of in the twenties, and that could be no man's land if you're you know, a nine and eight, ten and seventeen.

00:20:42
Speaker 8: Yeah, when you think of where they've had to draft.

00:20:44
Speaker 11: Now, they've traded up a couple of times to get up to sixteen to get an offensive lineman. But when you think about where they have had to draft and the consistent success five times in the postseason in the last six years, you know, they haven't been able to hit that home run with a number one pick, And to me, that's what makes every draft. I think their drafts have been solid, but they haven't had that Pro Bowl, elite type of player, and you know, you have to go back to TJ. Watt to find that guy.

00:21:15
Speaker 8: And I think that's where they need and they know it.

00:21:18
Speaker 11: They know those first five picks, first eight picks or where you first five, especially where you find those elite players. First eight to ten is where you find maybe the Pro Bowl players. And then you keep your fingers crossed it maybe you land somebody, but they haven't had that guy, and that's what they need and they know it.

00:21:35
Speaker 8: That's what they need to go and try and do.

00:21:38
Speaker 4: Anybody untouchable on the roster in your opinion.

00:21:41
Speaker 11: No, No, you know, I don't think I you know, DK metcalf is, I don't think despite that suspension what some people want to think, he's coming back, Cam Hayward's going to be thirty seven. But you know, I will tell you Dan, I don't think anybody is untouchable. They're right, tackle Troy Fontano, maybe some of our offensive linemen, but otherwise any of the other guys.

00:22:06
Speaker 4: No, thanks again, I know you're busy. We appreciate that.

00:22:10
Speaker 8: We'll always enjoy being with you.

00:22:12
Speaker 2: Jerry Doolat covers the Steelers for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Also part of the Steelers radio.

00:22:18
Speaker 1: Network, Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.

00:22:30
Speaker 2: He's Christopher mad Dog Russo you can listen to him on Sirius XM channel eighty two. You also see him usually on Wednesdays on First Take with Steven A.

00:22:40
Speaker 8: Smith.

00:22:41
Speaker 2: Let me start with the Dodgers dog. Good morning, good morning, good morning.

00:22:46
Speaker 8: Dog.

00:22:48
Speaker 2: Dodgers decide they need another big ticket item. Here Kyle Tucker going there to the Dodgers. Your reaction is.

00:22:56
Speaker 13: Well, it's terrible for baseball. I'll start there.

00:22:59
Speaker 12: I mean, how many guys you're gonna have them signed? Das? And I'm not saying for the Dodgers, it's it makes some sense. They probably needed in an outfielder. They had some issues as a closer last year, so there comes Das.

00:23:10
Speaker 13: But this is this is ridiculous.

00:23:11
Speaker 12: Their payroll last year with insurance was over five hundred million dollars, and now they had two guys in one's making what eighty million or seventy million, and Daz and he's making sixty million and an average salary in Ducker. I mean, the Dodgers theoretically aren't doing anything wrong. They're playing by the rules, but the rules have to change. I mean, this is getting to be a joke. I mean and I this is going to in a lot of ways. You can make an argument this helps Manford with the lockout discussions and the contract with the CBA for next year, which obviously concludes I think December first. It's it's right after the season, and this is now going to be a major sticking point these owners. An, Now, how am I supposed to compete when the Dodgers And again, the Dodgers don't do anything wrong with the rules stick and you know they gave Tony all that money, but it's all deferred, so he's making basically ten million dollars a year, so they can defer it, which gives them the best player in baseball at an incredibly low price, which means they can do anything they want. And everybody else did the same exact thing. Play in LA winning team, great organization, good Weather, have a chance to be in the World Series every year.

00:24:17
Speaker 13: Who wouldn't defer all the money?

00:24:19
Speaker 12: The problem is it doesn't work as far as the basis of the sport is concerned, because half these teams can't compete. Why would anybody think they could win the NL West next year with the Dodgers? And who cares what the Dodgers do between April first and October first. You know, once the postseason starts, at the team to beat. Last year, they had a bad year for them. They won ninety something games, were they one ninety five games and they still won the World Series. So it makes the regular season obsolete for LA because they're going.

00:24:46
Speaker 13: To make the playoffs. Then they have the best players.

00:24:48
Speaker 12: So once they get into the playoffs, despite the impredictability of baseball postseason, they got a hell of a chance to win. You can't tell me it's good for the sport that the Dodgers, who have won two championships, been in the playoffs, what fifty sixteen years in a row in the last five years, gave Finland twenty five million of Yamamoto, gave Sasaki two hundred million dollars, gave Otani a fortune, and now they give Tucker of fortune and Diaz a fortune. That's not good for the sport and the overall writing theme of it good for LA battom baseball.

00:25:18
Speaker 2: If you include deferred payments, the guaranteed salary for the Dodgers this upcoming season is two point one billion dollars.

00:25:27
Speaker 12: Wow, that's amazing. Good job, Dan I don't even know that. I mean, how are the Pirates supposed to compete with that? I mean how are the Kales and the and the Guardians and the Reds and the White Sox. I mean, how are they supposed to compete with that?

00:25:41
Speaker 4: Baseball Once then well you got Tampa Bay.

00:25:43
Speaker 12: How they solved the problem. How they solved the problems gonna be hard.

00:25:46
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay seventy million, yeah, Miami seventy six million, the White Sox one hundred and two, Saint Louis one o two, Washington won twenty, Cleveland won thirty one, Minnesota one hundred and fifty four million. So these include deferred payments, guaranteed salaries. But I don't know how you could get everybody on the same page with this. Chris Players Association's gonna fight it. They want these contracts. I mean, I don't know if these owners, I don't know what you can do.

00:26:15
Speaker 13: I agree with you, I mean never.

00:26:16
Speaker 12: Let's also say this, the guy who runs the Players Association of Scott Boris. It's not Tony Clark, it's not Bruce Weber. Weber might negotiate it, it's it's Boris. They were doing anything.

00:26:27
Speaker 13: Without Boris's approval.

00:26:28
Speaker 12: Boris is an unbelievable good agent who last time I had this major fight, everybody on the executive board were Boris clients. I think they had five or six and they're all Borts. He got Matt Shrz, who on the phone called Boris to see if he agrees with what they're doing in March. The whole thing is that, listen, baseball.

00:26:46
Speaker 13: This is what hill kills baseball.

00:26:48
Speaker 12: It's great in the postseason because you never know, the best team doesn't always win, but as far as the regular season is concerned, it's gotten to a situation where it becomes obsolete because you know, certain teams are this to be in a postseason barring it's a catastrophe, and one of those teams now you know the Yankees, and you know teams like that, and one of those teams definitely now is LA And it's bad for the sport. You know, a lot of fans are going to be annoyed, and I don't know what you do to solve it. You're right, you know, Manford's done a great job because he's been a commission that has not lost a regular season game since he was involved in negotiating these contracts in the mid nineties, so he has that on his legacy, so you know he's not gonna want to lose games next year. But he's also in a situation where he's got to do something. So we shall see.

00:27:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, because with the NFL, you can go from worse to first. We've seen those success stories and.

00:27:38
Speaker 12: Do that in foot We can't do that here.

00:27:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the NBA, we've seen success stories. They had a wood pick.

00:27:43
Speaker 13: Look at the Spurs.

00:27:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, different champion what the last five or six years. So you go into a season you give the NFL gives you hope.

00:27:53
Speaker 12: Absolutely, it gives you.

00:27:54
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers fans at the beginning of the year, you're probably thinking, Okay, we're in a bad division. Can we win this division? And the answer is yes. You look at the Bears. You know where they were where they are. I mean you could have the rise and the fall Detroit up then down. So to say to these teams, you're going to have an opportunity to at least compete for a playoff berth, I mean, that's what you want as a fan.

00:28:23
Speaker 4: You want hope.

00:28:24
Speaker 2: Now there's certain franchises where you go, no, we expect to be in in the NBA. You want hope, you want to go, Hey, I believe in the team, and I'll continue to go out and support it. You know, if you're a Pittsburgh Pirate fan, you go out one day, you go to see your pitcher, that's probably it. It's a great ballpark, but you know how many times are you going to see those games?

00:28:47
Speaker 4: But if you're.

00:28:47
Speaker 2: Playing in big games, now, all of a sudden, you're buying it. You know, the Reds make the playoffs. Now you're going out to watch a season, not just a couple of games.

00:28:57
Speaker 13: Watch the Dodgers get schoobl too.

00:29:00
Speaker 4: I brought that up this morning.

00:29:01
Speaker 2: I go, that's who I thought that they were going to be getting somehow, Someway.

00:29:05
Speaker 12: And he's gonna leave and you know this arbitration issue with him. Yeah, it's a major problem. I mean, last year the Bears didn't make the playoffs. This year they're in a divisional round. You made a good point about Carolina. They won the division, they get a home playoff camp. You know, Denver last year barely made the playoffs. Now the under the one seed Seattle last year didn't make the playoffs. Now to the one seed you have so many advantages from that standpoint. Was it normally six in and six out in the NFL, six teams every year, and you know that they, you know, have a short schedule. Now you need the quarterback. Without the quarterback, you're not gonna win. But you have ways to get the quarterback. You can draft one. You can be bad at the right time. You know, Perty was the last pick in the draft they found in right. I mean, you can get the Qbam. Josh Allen wasn't the first pick. You can get Nicks wasn't the first pick. You can get the quarterback by little lucky somehow, a free agent, a trade, well you know Donald, I mean he was a trade Seattle they won. You can get the quarterback. In the NBA, you got to get the great player. You know when Bayama, you know David Robinson, Duncan. You got to get that great player, the transformational player. There are ways to do it, but you got to get that player. But it doesn't have anything to do with money. I mean, you know, it might have something to do with the markets. But Sacramento was good for a long time. The Spurs won some championships. So the small market can win and in baseball, it's really about three or four teams and that's the and that's the unfortunately, think about baseball. It's got a great playoff system. The playoff system last three weeks. It's done. It's not a slugout four month process where they play best of sevens where you know who's gonna win beforehand, like the NBA might have. You know, it's the games are unpredictable because there's no guarantee the best team's gonna win. So that makes it fun too. You know, the Great Baseball Game, as you know, Dan, you're a great baseball fan, Game seven Toronto and Dodgers.

00:30:55
Speaker 13: How great a game was that?

00:30:57
Speaker 6: You know?

00:30:58
Speaker 13: It gives you incredible drama.

00:31:00
Speaker 12: But the problem is is baseball has become over the long period of time too much dominated by the big market teams. And I don't know how you solve that problem. I really don't.

00:31:09
Speaker 13: Without a strike, Without a strike.

00:31:11
Speaker 2: He's Christopher mad Dog Russo, host of mad Dog Unleashed on Serious XM Channel eighty two, and also you'll see him on First Take. What's holding up John Harbaugh and the Giants.

00:31:22
Speaker 12: Hasn't an officially signed it yet? Yeah, I don't know, I don't have the answer for you on that. Maybe the money for the assistant coaches. This is the move the Giants had to make. This is gonna happen. I mean, you know, I don't think it's going to fall apart. Harbor and Mara, I guess really had a great sit down. They had a great dinner a couple of nights ago. And the Giants need him. I mean, you know they've gone the assistant route, whether it's you know, Dable Judge, you know Ben McAdoo. It just it's been a disaster. They have to bring an established coach. Harball is a good coach. I mean, he's not a great coach yet got a chance to be, you know, hall of fame. I wouldn't say Harball is a Hall of Fame coach by my standards.

00:32:01
Speaker 13: I wouldn't say he's a Hall of Fame coach.

00:32:03
Speaker 4: Is Tomlin?

00:32:05
Speaker 12: You know he's gonna be in the Hall of Fame. They're gonna make it. But by you and I standards, do I consider Tom and right this second, a Hall of Fame coach? I don't now that's me. Now he's gonna make it because they vote, you know, they vote six candidates a year, and you know they Coreel made it. He never won a championship, Kwras anyone won Super Bowl, so he's he's gonna get in. But obviously Marve.

00:32:34
Speaker 13: Levey he's made it.

00:32:34
Speaker 12: He's got one hundred and forty three wins and four Super Bowl losses. You know, George Allen's in. He never want a thing, so they're gonna make it. But do I consider it Tom and A. Harby myself, as a football fan, a great all time coach.

00:32:47
Speaker 13: No, I don't know.

00:32:48
Speaker 12: When I think of the great all time coaches, I'm thinking Paul Brown, Belichick, Lombardi, Gibbs, Welsh, A Walsh, Parcels. You know, I'm thinking along those lines of you know, that establishment group, Shoe Lit, Landry, those kind of guys. And I don't think that myself, that Tom and Harbaugh are on that level myself. But I'm a small room guy. You're a small room guy. A lot of people put all these coaches in. I mean, Bill Coward to me is not a Hall of fame coach, very good coach. Do I consider him a Hall of Fame coach? Two super Bowls? He's one and one Hall of Fame where Wow, he's a great coach. I don't consider him that, but he's in the Hall of Fame. So they put a lot of guys in who I wouldn't put in, and Toman and Harbor are sort of on a very good category right now, and Harbor and Toman will have a chance to get to that next level. I mean, you think Dungee's a great coach, very good? Is he great in your eyes? Then is Tony Dungee a Hall of Fame coach? Well?

00:33:51
Speaker 2: He was also a great defensive coordinator as well. That Tampa team that he had that Gruden came in one, you know, Tony, Tony was helped in building that.

00:34:01
Speaker 12: Yeah, I think he's an interesting case. Do you think you think George John's Hall of Fame coach? No, he's in the Hall of Fame.

00:34:09
Speaker 2: I know.

00:34:10
Speaker 12: You think Pete Carroll's going to make the Hall of Fame?

00:34:11
Speaker 4: Yes you do?

00:34:13
Speaker 8: Yeah?

00:34:14
Speaker 13: Yeah, wow, I'm not sure, especially now.

00:34:19
Speaker 2: It is the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so they're not factoring in USC.

00:34:23
Speaker 8: Yeah.

00:34:23
Speaker 4: I don't forget us, but I'm guessing.

00:34:27
Speaker 2: See, I think the thing is is you're trying to compare today's coaches with yesteryear, and that's it's hard to do that and come up with a Hall of Fame coach. Because these guys were established, they didn't have to worry, you know, about all these other things that today's coach has to deal with getting to two Super Bowls?

00:34:46
Speaker 4: Like Sean Payton. Is Sean Payton a Hall of Fame coach?

00:34:49
Speaker 12: He's been in one Super Bowl?

00:34:51
Speaker 2: Not yet, he's probably going in. Is Mike McCarthy hall of Fame coach? No, he's got the same resume as Sean Payton.

00:35:00
Speaker 12: Yeah, I don't put Peyton in though.

00:35:02
Speaker 8: I'll be fair.

00:35:05
Speaker 12: Again.

00:35:06
Speaker 13: I'm a small room guy. I want greatness. I don't do.

00:35:09
Speaker 12: I think Sean Payton's a great coach. He's very good. Great Parcels is a great coach. Gibbs is a great coach. Three super Bowls, three different quarterbacks. Phil Walsh, that's a great football coach. Brown.

00:35:23
Speaker 13: Those are the sort of guys who.

00:35:24
Speaker 2: Has more pressure, either player or team. The most pressure this weekend in the NFL.

00:35:31
Speaker 12: Uh not San Francisco, Seattle, Buffalo so banged up. And I heard your thought with Josh Allen. He's great anyway, I probably.

00:35:42
Speaker 13: You know it's weird.

00:35:43
Speaker 12: I might say Stafford, but the Rams. You can't say there's any pressure on Houston. You can't say there's any pressure on the Patriots. The Bears are a young team. You can't use them San Francisco. Somehow we're in this spot Seattle. You know, maybe Sam Donald. Maybe Donald because he needs to go out there and you know, sort of undue last year, but he didn't play very well in the postseason. I don't look at Denver young quarterback Alan. I think he's accomplished plenty anyway. I know people bring Alan up because there's no Ma Homes and Burrow and Jackson. I still think Alan's got plenty of time to win a Super Bowl. I think this is an important you know, the Rams had a great year and then they kind of stalled. They were not great last weekend. I think there's some pressure on in and I think there's a lot. I think there's some pressure on Sam Donald. You know, and in a weird way, you brought up an interesting question because I don't know if there's a clear cut well, he's got a win, you know, I don't know if there you know, if Flemore was in this spot, I'd say three and five in the postseason, maybe i'd put him in that category. I don't know if I have anybody right now in the last eight in that category where they know that they have to win.

00:36:54
Speaker 13: I don't know if I have that right now.

00:36:57
Speaker 4: Good to chat with you. Good the best in glad you're feeling better.

00:37:00
Speaker 12: Thank you, pal.

00:37:01
Speaker 13: You had a rough week. Let's see, hiccups. Hiccups, Never get them, never get them.

00:37:06
Speaker 4: Wait, you had the hiccups.

00:37:07
Speaker 12: Which led to some issues and I was in bad shape for about fifteen hours.

00:37:11
Speaker 13: If I had a missed first take after division.

00:37:14
Speaker 12: Round, you know it wasn't.

00:37:18
Speaker 4: Have a good weekend. Good supp thank you. That's Christopher mad Dog Russo.